Trump could be placing a whole new set of White House staffers at risk by returning to the complex Monday night while still infected — even as he proclaimed, “Now I’m better.” In a briefing before Trump’s return, Sean Conley, the president’s physician, wouldn’t say whether Trump was still contagious but acknowledged he could be. And Conley would not go into details of whether Trump would remain confined to the residence or specific parts of the White House, meaning he could still visit the Oval Office as staff work out of the West Wing.

The decision fits into a pattern familiar to the Trump orbit: The president hires and discards aides once he tires of them or feels they no longer serve him as he would like. The ultimate test is always loyalty and a willingness to fulfill the president’s wishes at whatever cost.

“What we are seeing play out is this culture of a group of people who flat out, for one reason or another, felt invincible to the virus,” said Olivia Troye, the former White House coronavirus task force adviser to the vice president who now supports Joe Biden.

“Now, they are facing the reality of it because they have their own outbreak, and they are part of the cluster,” she added. “I’m glad I’m not there anymore.”